What We Lost
by shakespeareinthepark
Summary: Sequel to 'Like the Pharaohs of Old.' Extremely AU, Darcy POV, Loki/Darcy, etc. Hydra is gone. The good guys won. Time passes, but something isn't right. The whole team is brought back to face an even greater force that rose after- and possibly because of- the group's find in Egypt. Rated M for violence and sexual content and whatnot. *ON HIATUS*
1. Chapter 1

**This story is a sequel to the fic 'Like the Pharaohs of Old.' If you start here, it won't make much sense. You can find the first story on my profile or around in the Thor section somewhere. But, who am I to tell you what to do? If you want to start here, that's fine. I can't tell you how to live your life. Anyways: enjoy the story! (only if you want to though)**

* * *

Darcy and Loki sat across from each other at their kitchen table. Darcy was still wearing her pajamas, but Loki was dressed for the day. Apparently he had somewhere to go today, which meant today wasn't one of their shut-in days. _Damn._

Loki had his foot propped up on her chair beside her leg, and her legs were crossed and up so that her feet lay between his legs, dangerously close to his nether regions. She did that to mess with him, to tease him. Teasing him was always fun, just like playing with fire.

"How about this one?" Loki turned his laptop to face Darcy. They were both currently looking at different charity options for the two of them to share some of their gratuitous wealth with. They had decided that they had more money than they would ever know what to do with, so they were researching which charity would be receiving a little under a billion dollars.

In the six months since finding the treasure and receiving their reward, Darcy and Loki had bought a large apartment in Central Park West, complete with a library and a pretty great view of the park and Stark Tower. It was grand while still being cozy, exactly what they had wanted.

"The Smithsonian?" she asked unsurely. "Worthy, but I feel like we've already helped them out plenty with the treasure itself. I want our money to really mean something, save lives,"

"Bleeding heart," Loki smirked at her. She responded by sticking her tongue out at him.

Loki became serious again, "How about the Red Cross? Very general, widespread,"

"Who's the bleeding heart now?"

"Just attempting to please you, darling."

"That's not going to work this time."

"What's not going to work?" He actually looked fairly innocent; Loki was always a great actor and liar.

"You, trying to 'as you wish' yourself into my panties. Again. I'm going to make you work for it this time."

His face remained innocent and confused and puppy-eyed, but for a split second Darcy could've sworn she saw mischief flit through those green eyes. "I haven't the faintest clue as to what you're on about, darling. I only want what you want."

Oh, he was pushing it. Well two could play that game, and the way she played this game was a little different than Loki's method. He was in a playful mood already, and she wondered how far she could go with that before he lost it.

Slowly, she moved her foot against and up his leg. Loki glanced down for a second, almost surprised but definitely pleased with her actions. _Always a great way to start._

* * *

The two of them fell back on the kitchen table, Darcy completely nude and Loki still wearing his now very loose tie and unbuttoned shirt.

_Why is he dressed up anyway?_ Dressing up meant he was planning on going out at some point today and that he needed to be presentable for it, so it was probably a speech in a class at Columbia. He'd been doing a few of those recently; every once in a while, Columbia University or some other college nearby would ask for Professor Odinson to come give a talk about the find. Darcy had never been asked by a college, but every other Saturday she talked to visitors at the Met in the newly founded exhibit dedicated to their find. It was loads of fun and gave her a chance to get out of the house, which was always good.

They were both panting, attempting to catch their breath. Darcy put her hand on her stomach, her hand rising and falling with each deep breath.

"And before ten o'clock in the morning this time," she said in disbelief.

"You started it."

"Yes I did. And what a way to start the day,"

"This should be routine. I could definitely get used to this."

"I don't know; we'd never get anything done. Well, besides each other."

"That's a sacrifice I am willing to make."

"I bet it is." Darcy sat up and hung her legs off the side of the table. "You know, I'm glad we chose this table. It's very sturdy."

"Agreed." Loki brought his hand to her back and lightly ran his fingers up and down her spine. She tried not to let the stroking get to her so she could carry out a normal conversation, but it was difficult. Loki was probably doing that on purpose.

Suddenly, across the house, Darcy could hear her phone ringing. Darcy jumped down off the table, quickly walked around to stand beside Loki, leaned him up, pulled his shirt off of him, and walked toward the bedroom, pulling Loki's shirt on as she went. Just as the phone was on it's last ring, Darcy answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hi Darcy. I was just calling to make sure your bridesmaid dress came in," Jane's voice said. _Even on a different continent, Jane still manages to cockblock like a pro. Well, she was a little late this time. That's progress._

"Yeah, it's here." Darcy glanced over at her yellow bridesmaid's dress hanging on the back of the door. "You wanted it in neon green, right?"

"Darcy, what? Is that dress green? Darcy, I—" Darcy could feel Jane's panic through the phone, so she cut her short.

"It's a joke, calm down. It's yellow or gold or whatever color you said."

"Canary, Darcy. I said canary."

"Right. Bird-color. So, how are things on your side of the pond?"

"Stressful. Some things are going wrong, some things are going all right. What day are you and Loki flying in?"

"The Tuesday before, if I'm not mistaken. We'll have five days to help you guys get ready."

"That's good. The staff we got will be doing most of the stuff, but moral support is greatly appreciated."

"That's what we're here for. Are you sure you don't want us any earlier?"

"That Tuesday's fine. Pepper is coming out the Thursday before that, and she's… well, she's Pepper. We'll have all the help we need."

"Yeah, you'll be fine if Pepper's there."

"Have you talked to her recently? Is her bridesmaid's dress in?"

"Yeah, I was over there the other day. Her toucan dress looked lovely,"

"Canary, Darcy. Canary."

"Right. Yes, all the dresses are in. Before you ask, yes; Loki's bow tie and whatever is in. Pigeon-colored, just like you wanted."

Jane was silent for a moment as Darcy knew she was pulling herself together. The wedding plans were taking their toll on Jane, and even a little bird-color humor couldn't lift her up.

"I'm sorry. Everything's going fine over here. The wedding is going to be fantastic." Darcy said.

"I hope so. Hey, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later,"

"All right. Bye,"

"Bye."

Darcy made her way back to the kitchen to see Loki sitting at the table waiting for her.

"_Somebody_'s a little upset over the wedding," Darcy said, approaching Loki and sitting on the table beside him.

"I'm sure it will turn out beautifully, no matter what happens. Although… pigeon-colored?" Loki raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively.

"She gets so upset over it. You have to admit that's funny."

"Mocking her won't help her stress levels. You wouldn't want her to get cold feet and chicken out,"

"Are you making bird puns now?"

"I'm being serious, Darcy." She could see the mischief dancing in his eyes. "You really shouldn't ruffle her feathers."

"You're making me _quail_ with fear."

"Do you expect me to swallow that? I usually have to be much more ravenous to make you quail,"

"Those were the sexiest bird puns I think I've ever heard."

Loki winked at her and stood up. Walking to the pile of clothes they had been wearing, he asked, "So when is the hen party, anyway?"

"You're dumb." Darcy shook her head and smiled.

"Oh, I don't know about that. I can be clever _sometimes_,"

"Rarely."

"I'll have to prove to you later that I can be clever in at least one way. As for now, I have to give a discourse to an Egyptian Anthropology class in an hour."

"I'm going to hold you to that,"

"What a coincidence; I was just thinking of how I was going to hold _you_ to something, perhaps the wall."

"Are you trying to be charming?" Darcy asked, watching him as he pulled on his clothes.

"No, of course not. Was it working?" He looked up at her with a purely shit-eating grin.

"You're charming the panties right off me. Well, if I were wearing any."

"That is my aim in life, darling. By the way, I love the view,"

Darcy glanced down at herself; the only thing she was wearing was Loki's shirt, unbuttoned and hanging off of her.

Loki suddenly walked toward her and put his hands on her shoulders. _Oh, I guess he wants to go round two real quick. Well, all right. _He took her mouth with his and dominated it, opening her lips with his and kissing her roughly and thoroughly. His tongue had a talent of making her feel all warm inside, even when it was just in her mouth (and sometimes even when it wasn't and Darcy was just thinking about it).

And then Loki pulled away from her. She actually followed him forward a bit, hoping he wasn't actually ending it so early. Loki smiled at her playfully, and it was then that she noticed he had taken his shirt off of her and was now buttoning it on himself as he walked toward the door.

"Well played." Darcy said, doing her best to sit confidently, completely naked on their kitchen table.

"Thank you. And I have to say, as much as I liked the view before, what I'm seeing now is definitely an improvement."

"I had a feeling you'd say something like that." She noticed he was trying to tuck in his shirt but was having some issues. She jumped down off the table and went to him, saying, "Here, let me help."

If there was a non-sexual way to tuck in someone's shirt for them, and there probably was, Darcy did not know it. After only a moment of Darcy attempting to help him out, Loki was putty in her hands.

"I could call the university. Cancel. Tell them I'm sick… or something," he said in an almost growl.

"You wouldn't want to do that," Darcy said into his ear.

"I think I do, actually."

"No, we'll have to wait until after your big speech. It really is important." She retreated from him and began putting her own clothes back on. She knew that he knew his speech was important, too, though he hated to admit it. "I think I'm going to visit Stark and Pepper today, see what they're up to. Pepper texted me the other day and told me to stop by when I got the chance."

"Minx." Loki said, still standing there, slightly dumfounded.

"Yeah." She winked at him as she pulled up her pants.

"All right. I'll meet you over there after my speech, and then after we can go to a late lunch."

"It's a date."

"And after that, we'll finish what you started." She could see the promise in his eyes.

"Sounds good to me. Your bird puns and holding me to stuff will begin right when we get home."

Instead of responding, Loki wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her to him, kissing her. This time around, it was much more honest and gentle and simply amazing. When they parted, it was only barely.

"I love you, darling," Loki said softly.

"I love you too," Darcy smiled as he kissed her again.

_Yep. This is definitely a great way to begin the day._


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning: there are sexytimes ahead. Last third of the chapter. Skip that part if you aren't into that. Enjoy!**

* * *

Darcy walked confidently into Stark Tower, bypassing the usual doorman with barely a friendly greeting. He was a young guy whose eyes were always glued to her chest, even when Loki was standing right beside her. _Maybe he doesn't think anybody notices._

Ignoring the ogling eyes of the barely post-pubescent boy, Darcy entered the elevator and pressed the level for the penthouse. It had been a while since she'd been in the tower, and being back made her nostalgic. Sure, she'd been kidnapped from here. But she also loads of happy memories from the days of old. Movie-fests with Loki. Togetherness with the group. Blowing up shit and scaring people with Stark. Those were the days. Not that nowadays were bad at all; she just missed the explosives and the entire group hanging out.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, revealing the expanse of Stark's absolutely huge living room/dining room/bar. Pepper was sitting at the table, looking over something on a notepad. Something most likely wedding related.

"Hey, Darcy. I'm glad you're here, I have a couple of things I need to show you,"

"Of those things, which ones have to do with Jane's wedding?" Darcy said as she sat down across from her.

"Only one of them. I found shoes you and I can wear so we can match. How comfortable are you with four inch heels?"

"I don't know, how comfortable are you with holding a scorpion or having sex in front of your mother?"

"I take it you're not very comfortable with them," Pepper said flatly.

"I'd prefer something slightly more walk-able, if that's ok with you," Darcy smiled sheepishly as she spoke.

"All right, how about these?" What Darcy thought had been a notepad turned out to be some kind of ultra-thin iPad thing that Stark probably made. The thing showed a picture of much more modest heels, and they looked absolutely beautiful and extremely expensive.

"Those look fantastic." Darcy said, successfully removing her foot from her mouth.

"Great. You're a size six, right?"

"Yes, ma'am." Darcy sat back in her chair, making herself at home.

"Done." Pepper smiled.

"Hey, before you move on to the other thing, I have something wedding-related to say,"

"All right, go ahead."

Darcy loved Loki. She had no doubt of that. Jane loved Thor and she knew that for sure as well. Darcy was even pretty sure that Pepper loved Tony. But…

"What's happening with the bachelorette party?"

"What do you mean?" Pepper looked almost horrified.

"Have you been Pepper-ing it? Is it going to be awesome? Are most of the women in the wedding party going to reevaluate their love lives after? I know I won't because I love Loki and every other man has been ruined for me and all that, but every totally kick-ass wedding needs a fucking awesome bachelorette party,"

"Ignoring the use of the term '_Pepper-ing_,' I'll go on to say that I have not planned a bachelorette party because Jane explicitly told me she does not want one," Pepper explained calmly, though Darcy could see the fear in her eyes.

"What? No! She _has_ to have one! No wedding is complete without one." Pepper was giving Darcy a really weird look now. She continued, "No, you don't understand; this isn't for me. This is for Jane. And for you."

Seeing the slightly terrified look on Pepper's face, Darcy decided to back up and simplify. "Look at Thor. Does he seem like Casanova to you? I love the guy to death, but damn. Poor Jane needs this before being tied down. And you; when I mentioned 'bachelorette party,' I saw the fear of God in you. You both need this."

"Are you trying to say that Jane needs to experience a male stripper before getting married and that I am afraid of a party?" Now Pepper was really giving her a look. This wasn't going exactly as Darcy wanted.

"No. Well, kinda." She sighed before continuing, "It doesn't have to be sexual, though that is the norm. I'm just trying to say, a bachelorette party is a rite of passage and a tradition. It will help you both cut loose and have some fun. And I bet you Thor's having a bachelor party. With Tony on the case, that party is going to be legendary. We have to give Jane the same treatment."

Pepper looked at her for a moment before sighing and shaking her head a little. "Fine. A few of us can go out the night before or something like that."

"That's all I ask," Darcy said triumphantly.

"So, the other thing I wanted to tell you about…" Pepper began flipping through the tablet, searching for something. _She's changing the topic before I add to it. Clever._

Darcy sat in silence, patiently waiting.

"Here it is," she said. Pepper put the tablet on the table in front of her and spun it around for Darcy to see.

Darcy read aloud, "'Five museum break-ins in a month; pattern drawn to Stark find.' Stark find? Is that what our find is being called? That's totally fair,"

"Read more than just the title,"

"All right. The… the… cunt… the cunsht…"

"The Kunsthistoriches," Pepper corrected.

"Wow, that's a word. 'The _Kunsthistoriches_ Museum in Vienna makes the fifth museum to be burgled in the past four weeks. The only items taken in Vienna and in all of the other museums were new additions from the Stark expedition in Egypt.' The 'Stark expedition?' Really?"

"You're missing the point, Darcy." Pepper pulled her tablet back to herself and closed out of the article. "All of these museums are being broken in to and the only things being taken are from the find. It's happened in Paris, London, Alexandria, Berlin, and now Vienna. Nothing else is being taken from the museums and whoever's doing it is leaving behind no traces. These museums aren't exactly easy to break in to, yet it's been done five times, more than possibly by the same people."

"You really think it's the same people each time?" Darcy asked.

"I think someone is really devoted to their cause, whatever it may be," Pepper suddenly looked very weary. "I know Hydra was taken care of, but it makes me a little nervous."

"Maybe somebody just really has a thing for Roman-era Egyptian gold. They'll catch them, don't worry." Darcy reached out and took Pepper's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"I hope so." Pepper sighed.

The elevator dinged again, and this time Stark and Loki walked off. It looked like Loki had just said something really funny, judging by his smug smile and Stark laughing and smacking Loki on the back.

"Hello ladies. Look who I found in the elevator," Stark motioned to Loki behind him. Stark then winked at Pepper, who immediately looked as if nothing was ever bothering her.

"What's up?" Darcy asked them, nonchalantly pinching Loki's ass as he sat down beside her.

"Oh, you know. Getting ready for the wedding of the year. Were you two planning the bachelorette party?" Stark said after he kissed Pepper on the cheek.

"I told you," Darcy said quietly.

"Yeah. It's going to be great." Pepper said to Stark, briefly glancing at Darcy.

"Is it?" Stark said, actually looking surprised. "I didn't think ol' Jane would actually be having one. Is Jane finally living a little or is this Darcy's way of surprising her?"

"Darcy," Pepper said blankly at the same time Darcy defensively said, "Both."

"So you're making her plan it," Stark said to Darcy, pointing at Pepper.

"Not exactly," Darcy said at the same time Pepper said, "Yeah."

"This should be great." Stark said, grinning. "Anyways, we were just talking about the bachelor party,"

"Apparently Mr. Stark will be treating us to quite the evening," Loki said.

"We're going all out. When we're old, we'll look back on this night and-" Stark was cut off by Pepper elbowing him hard in the gut. "-remember how much we truly love the ladies we're with,"

"Nice cover," Darcy commented.

"Anyways, I was just showing Darcy that thing I showed you the other night," Pepper said to Stark, moving the conversation along.

"You showed her _what_ now?" Stark looked genuinely surprised and slightly scandalized. "You could've at least waited until I got in before showing her _that_,"

"No, not _that_," Pepper playfully smacked his arm. Loki and Darcy exchanged a glance. "I was showing her the article about the museums,"

"Oh. Well, that is immensely less fun. But still important."

Pepper shook her head and brought out her tablet again, pulled up the article, and slid it over to Loki, who quickly began reading to himself.

"You know, it's almost like a serial robber," Darcy said.

"It's really weird, that's what it is." Pepper said.

"I think it's definitely really fucking weird, but as for now there's nothing we can do about it. It's not our treasure, it's not our property, and it's not our problem." Stark said.

"Yeah, but I'm still curious about it. Who can break in to all of those places? Why are they after just the stuff from our find?" Darcy asked.

"This article is dated five days ago. If they keep up with the pattern, the next break-in should be happening in the next few days," Loki said, handing the tablet back to Pepper. "Museums with artifacts from our find are probably raising their security levels, just to be safe. I think it's nothing for us to worry about,"

"I hope you're right," Pepper said. Loki was always really good at calming people down and knowing what to say. He was also a really good liar. Those had more in common than Darcy cared to admit.

"Well," Stark smacked his hands together loudly; "Loki mentioned in the elevator that he was planning on taking Darcy to dinner. How about we let them go, and the two of them can have a lovely evening doing what we all know they're going to do,"

"Tony," Pepper more warned than exclaimed while Darcy snickered.

"I'm sorry, that was too blunt. How about we let them go so they can go out to dinner and then Loki can-"

"I'm going to cut you off right there," Pepper interrupted. She may not be having it, but both Loki and Darcy were amused with Stark.

Loki stood up. "Shall we?" he asked Darcy, holding out his hand.

"We shall," she replied, taking his hand and being helped up. _What a gentleman. I'll have to remember that later._ "It was really nice talking with you Pepper. I'll see you later. Bye Tony," Darcy called out as they walked to the elevator.

"Be safe," Stark yelled back.

The elevator doors gently closed.

"Stark has such a way with words," Darcy said.

"Miss Potts really has found herself a Prince Charming." Loki responded.

After leaving the tower, the two of them went out to dinner at a lovely French restaurant with waiters that barely spoke English and a doorman and all sorts of fancy things. When they got home, Darcy had barely made it inside before Loki turned on her, eyes dark, and kissed her, roughly but not painfully pushing her up against the closing door. That effectively started up their evening.

"I believe you started something earlier today," Loki said lowly. He wasn't actually touching her anymore; his hands had left her and his arms were against the wall. His body was inches from hers, the intimacy of the distance doing more than what actually touching her would have. Well, maybe. "I am eager to finish that,"

"I can tell," Darcy said, bringing one leg up to wrap around his waist. Loki immediately responded by kissing her on the mouth hungrily and grabbing her by the thighs with both hands, lifting her up so that both her legs wrapped around him. She could already feel his arousal through her bunched up dress.

"Someone is _very _eager," Darcy managed to say as Loki ravished her neck.

"Darling, how badly do you want tonight to be romantic?" Loki growled into her ear.

"If this isn't romance, I never want you to be romantic again."

She could feel Loki smile against her skin, if just for a moment. And then he was slipping her dress over her head, feeling her as his hands travelled up her body. When her dress was just barely off and her arms were stuck above her head, Loki stopped and kept her in that position with one hand.

"That's not exactly fair," Darcy said, her smile betraying her words.

"No undergarments. Naughty girl,"

"Wearing just one piece of clothing total feels odd at first yet in general very liberating,"

Loki didn't answer; instead, his mouth traveled from her neck to her collarbone to her breast. His tongue was doing that swirl thing that made her mind go to mush.

"Loki," she could barely mutter.

And then his fingers were involved as well. One, then two. Teasing, then inside. Darcy noticed Loki hadn't lost one piece of clothing yet— and that was completely unfair. She would not let him do this to her while he was still very much dressed.

She pulled with all her might and managed to get her arms out of their makeshift bindings. Grabbing Loki's shirt roughly, she pulled on it until it was successfully untucked. Darcy then started working on the buttons with wobbly fingers. Loki took pity on her and slid his fingers out, letting her even the playing fields. To Darcy's amusement and delight, he then brought his arguably best two fingers to his mouth and sucked them clean. Darcy had to do her best to ignore that just to keep her vision intact and hands steady.

Loki helped her on the last few buttons before throwing the shirt off to the side. She played with his belt and then zipper for a moment before she successfully freed him.

He pushed up against her and inside her.

"I love you, Darcy," he said in his deep, sexed-up voice.

Darcy was barely able to respond, "I love you, Loki."

Loki drew out almost all the way before thrusting in again. "Say my name again."

She actually struggled to. "Loki,"

"Keep saying it."

"Loki, harder," she whimpered.

That was no trouble for him. Darcy was glad their door was as sturdy as it was.

"Faster, Loki. Please," she moaned.

He brought up the speed, but just a little.

"Loki," Her voice was escalating in pitch and volume.

She wasn't going to last. By the looks of things, Loki didn't have long either. He was saying something she couldn't understand; maybe it wasn't English, maybe Darcy was just that far gone. It probably had something to do with saying his name some more, so she just said his name again to please him. Or perhaps she screamed it. She really couldn't tell and she definitely didn't care.

Loki brought the speed up; Darcy was approaching it, ready to fall over the edge at any second.

As she hit the brink, Darcy screamed his name one last time, for good measure. And then she was gone. Loki followed her over not even a few seconds later, collapsing against her and keeping them both from sinking to the floor.

_That was definitely a great way to start the evening off. Loki's in one of _those_ moods, the really fun ones. This is gonna be so much fun._

* * *

**Sorry about the gratuitous amounts of love scenes/implications of love scenes in this story so far. I feel like their relationship at this point would be fairly physical, but I don't want to gross some readers out/have you reading something you don't want to read. I can cut it out except for the occasional sexytime, but I don't want to do that if you're all feeling nympho-tastic. Wow, this A/N is weird. You know it's bad when it gets sexual in the author's note. All right then.**

**Anyways, thank you so much to all of the followers/favoriters/reviews/readers so far! You are more beautiful than Cinderella. You smell like pine needles and have a face like sunshine. Peace out.**


	3. Chapter 3

"And over here, you'll see one of the scrolls recovered from the site," Darcy explained to the crowd of museum visitors, motioning behind her.

"But how did Loki fall in love with you?"

"Did he save you from that Schmidt guy?"

"Was it love at first sight?"

Darcy sighed. Every week was the same. More than half of the crowd in front of her was teenage girls, all wanting to hear about her romance-filled adventure.

The story of their exploits in Egypt and Rome and whatnot had gotten published in quite a few magazines and newspapers, and the young female population had really taken to Darcy and Loki's relationship, even though it had barely even been mentioned in the articles. The girls had somehow assumed that the relationship between Darcy and Loki came straight out of a romance novel, and now every week instead of questions about the treasure and the site, she got questions like 'did he sweep you off your feet?' and once even 'how good's the sex?' Darcy usually just ignored the questions, but she was a teenage girl herself once, and sometimes she indulged their demands. But only sometimes.

Behind the crowd, Fabio himself walked in, spotted her, and grinned. She decided, someone rashly, that today was the day she would co-lead the tour. Plus, putting Loki on the spot would be funny; he showed off his cleverness best in situations like that.

"Hey, Loki! Come here!" she called over the group. The teenage girls present all turned in awe and watched as Loki made his way to stand right next to Darcy. She was pretty sure a few of them had orgasms as he passed them. _I know the feeling, girls._

"How can I help?" Loki said, smiling politely.

"I was just about to tell them about this scroll here when I thought, gosh; Loki tells this so much better than I do."

"Ok," Loki turned around to look at the scroll for a second so he would know specifically what scroll he would be talking about. Darcy noticed more than a few of the girls checking him out during and once he turned.

It wasn't exactly jealousy that was eating Darcy; more like possessiveness and greed. Then again, she was the one Loki was living with, not these sixteen year olds checking out his ass.

"Ah, yes." Loki turned back around and a few of the girls made quite the show of attempting to not be caught staring. Loki was either extremely obtuse today or was playing them. Since Darcy knew Loki as she did, she took a step to the side and prepared to watch the show. Loki was almost successfully concealing a small grin, but Darcy could see in his eyes that he was planning on lying to these poor girls.

"This particular scroll is a declaration of love from a pharaoh to a young handmaiden. Though the pharaoh had a wife, and Egyptians were mostly monogamous, he says here that he loved this handmaiden more than anything and would leave his wife just to be with this young woman,"

A few of the girls actually sighed in unison. _These girls are comically pathetic. Jeez. I hope I was never quite this bad._

Loki continued, "Sadly, history shoes that this particular pharaoh never left his wife. The young girl probably served the wife and watched the two of them have children while she remained a lowly servant. This poor young woman probably never found love and died alone."

That wiped the dopey smiles off of the girl's faces. _He built them up just to squash them. Brutal, yet hilarious. I knew I loved him for a reason._

"Any questions?" Loki smiled what Darcy was sure he thought looked perfectly mannerly but she could see the thick layer of self-satisfaction underneath. The normal museumgoers had all left by now, so the crowd in front of Loki and Darcy was now just the young girls.

One girl raised her hand and Loki pointed at her.

"Do you work out a lot?"

Loki looked somewhat confused and surprised. "Sometimes, I suppose," he answered.

A girl near the front whose eyes hadn't left Loki since he walked in raised her hand. "I have a question!" she declared.

"All right,"

"Would you ever leave Darcy for someone younger? Like, a lot younger? I mean, I'm only fifteen, but-"

"No, I would never leave Darcy. Next question." Loki's bluntness was causing the girls to look a little hurt, but his last comment made Darcy smile and feel all warm inside.

"I have a question too," a small girl at the back said. This one had to be no older than twelve.

"Ask away, sweetheart," Loki said. _Oh, he's good. I would have ended this by now, with these awful questions._

And then, completely serious, the girl cleared her throat and asked her question in the most innocent voice Darcy had ever heard: "How big is your penis?"

Darcy almost choked on air. Loki looked at the girl wide-eyed, unable to provide an answer.

"That is…" Darcy started speaking but was at a loss for words.

"Highly inappropriate," Loki finished, now fighting off laughter.

"And that about wraps things up. Thank you all for coming today, it's been… wonderful." Darcy decided that girl's question was a good of a closing as any. The crowd, at long last, began to disperse.

Darcy turned to go to Loki, but yet another young girl cut her off, facing Loki. The only way this could've been worse would be if the girl had Loki's face on her T-shirt and was asking for his autograph.

"Is it true that you lied to the leader of Hydra and fooled him into going to the wrong place?" she asked, craning her neck back just to look at Loki.

"Yes, ma'am," he said oh so politely.

"And then you beat him up for taking Darcy?"

"Yes, but only because I had to." _Aw, Loki's teaching children not to fight. I'd find that sweet if everything he did wasn't so arousing._

"Wow," the girl was in awe.

"If you'll excuse me, miss; I would like to talk to Darcy. It was lovely meeting you,"

"It was lovely meeting you too," the girl said.

And then, finally, they were alone.

"Are the questions always like that?" Loki asked after kissing Darcy quickly.

"They're not usually that bad," Darcy explained, grabbing his hand and lightly pulling him from the room.

"You ready to go home?" he asked.

"More than ready. Eager."

* * *

It was almost ten when Darcy came to a sudden realization: she had forgotten her phone at the museum.

Loki had insisted she just wait until tomorrow to go get it, as they were already in bed and both in a state of undress, but Darcy knew she needed her phone on her. With all this wedding business, Jane could call at any moment having a panic attack and Darcy would definitely need to answer that call. After quickly pulling on her clothes, Darcy kissed Loki chastely on the cheek and promised him she'd be careful and take a taxi and that she'd be back soon. He had offered to come with her, but she had insisted that she could run over and get back on her own quickly enough.

The taxi driver was nice but a little too slow for Darcy, and when they got there she handed him a little too much money and jumped out of the car. Once she ran up the front stairs, she knocked on the door and waved at the security guard, Gabe. She was very familiar with the night staff of the museum, as a result of her forgetfulness.

"Darcy, what are you doing here?" he said after unlocking the door and letting her in.

"I forgot my phone," she said guiltily.

"Again? I swear, you forget that thing every time you come in," Gabe laughed.

"Yeah, you know the saying. I'd forget my head and all that jazz,"

The two parted ways as Darcy left to go to the staff lounge and Gabe went back to his post. The museum was pretty creepy at night, but Darcy had gotten used to that the second time she'd forgotten something.

As she was leaving, Darcy walked through her exhibit. The large room had an almost serene vibe to it that was rarely present during the business hours, the artifact-covered walls echoing her every step loudly back to her. Since it was after-hours, the moon peeking through the windows provided the only light in the room. The shadows, even those of stationary objects, seemed to dance around on the walls and white marble floors. The silence of the museum felt fantastic to her ears, refreshing even. There was something about the peacefulness of the silence and this lighting that was bringing up some feelings, and Darcy could tell she was about to get sentimental.

She placed her hand lightly on the glass case covering a collection of small tools.

_Almost seven months now._

She remembered how worried she had been, the morning she woke up with Loki's arm around her in that tent at the site. It brought a small smile to her face, thinking back to her little worries and knowing now that everything would turn out all right. Hell, better than all right.

A small noise interrupted her thoughts. Darcy wouldn't have even noticed it if she hadn't been so focused on the silence around her. At first she passed it off as Gabe doing something, but a few more little noises followed. A really bad feeling washed over Darcy.

It seemed far away, probably were Gabe was, actually. A click, followed by the noise of shoes briefly skidding on the ground, and then a light thud.

_What the hell?_

Footsteps. There was more than one other person in the museum.

Heartbeat elevating and eyes widening, Darcy thought back to the article Pepper had been talking about. Loki had said another break in should be happening 'in the next few days.' There were only so many museums around the world that had artifacts from the site, maybe fifteen in total. It was only a matter of time before they hit New York.

The footsteps were drawing closer. What would happen if they found someone in the exhibit they were planning on robbing?

Panic swelled in Darcy. Of course she hadn't brought her taser tonight. Well, one person with a taser wouldn't be much against several people with guns. She began backing away from the door, looking around the room for somewhere to hide. There was only one door to the room, and that was the direction the people were coming from. She checked her phone: dead, of course.

Darcy ran across the room as quietly as she could, looking for a good hiding spot. And then she spotted it: a necklace, laying out in one of the displays, caught her eye from the reflection of the moon coming through the window.

An idea crossed her mind. A dumb idea, but an idea.

She had maybe a minute before the footsteps would reach her room. They were going to take everything from the exhibit and do who knows what to it, more than likely destroy it or at the very least not take care of it. If these people were going to take everything they saw, Darcy would make sure they didn't see this. This was all assuming they didn't find her and kill her, of course.

The footsteps were in the next room. Darcy grabbed the necklace, jumped around the table, and got in the cabinet underneath it. It was a small cabinet meant to hold supplies for interactive tours and live refurbishments and stuff like that, but if she curled up in a ball Darcy could fit. She slipped the barely used sliding door closed just as the footsteps reached the room.

"All right," a deep, manly voice said. "You take that section, and you take that section. I'll take the delicates,"

A few seconds passed with nothing to hear. But then, right beside her, the loud thud of something impacting the wood siding shook the entire table. Darcy covered her mouth with her free hand to stop herself from making any noise.

"Dammit," she heard the same voice mutter under their breath; _somebody_ had stubbed their toe.

Darcy could hear the man picking stuff up off the table above her. He was slow, careful, and unfortunately thorough. Lucky for her, he either didn't notice one necklace was missing, or he assumed it was being cleaned or something like that.

Darcy noticed something beside her head; on the bottom of the table, a small red button was sticking out. Beside it, printed on a tiny plaque, were the words 'Silent Alarm.'

Not even hesitating, Darcy took her hand off her mouth and pressed the button. Before she started working here, the museum guy had explained to her that the silent alarm buttons throughout the museum would alert security and the police, and that the police had a response time of a little over five minutes.

_Five minutes. I can do this. Just breathe._

In this moment, Darcy really wished she had taken Loki's advice and not come in until tomorrow. _But if I hadn't, they would've gotten this necklace too, and the silent alarm might not have been hit. Silver lining, Darcy. I hope Gabe's ok… maybe they just tied him up somewhere. Hopefully. Are there any other night guards? I don't think there are… just Gabe and me here. I really hope Gabe's ok._

The three men were cleaning out the place. They wouldn't be able to take the really big stuff like the sarcophagi or bigger statues, but here at the Met they had a lot of the smaller artifacts.

"Boss, police scanner says a whole squad is on its way here. We have three minutes to make it clear," a new voice alerted.

"Well, let's go then," the first voice said, surprisingly calm.

"Leave everything else?"

"We don't really have much of a choice, do we?" First Voice was annoyed now. "Gather what you have and move out."

There was a lot of scuffling, and then they were leaving. Darcy waited until she couldn't hear the footsteps anymore to start climbing out from underneath the table.

Every small artifact, every scroll, every piece of jewelry, every pot, everything that could fit into someone's hands was gone. Darcy clutched the necklace in one hand and her dead phone in the other, unable to move besides taking deep breaths. The police sirens were now in earshot.

Darcy didn't move until a few police officers ran into the room. One of them yelled for her to put her hands up. As she did, she said that she was the one who hit the alarm. The officer that had yelled went over to her and walked her out of the room, asking her a few questions. He got a statement from her, but didn't take the necklace for some reason. That was fine with her; she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to let go of it anyway.

Darcy walked toward the exit, blankly staring out in front of her. She thought her hands were shaking, but when she looked down at them she saw her fists were tightly clenched.

She passed something on the ground: a sheet covering something. Her stomach felt sick. Blood was coming out onto the floor around it. A hand stuck out from underneath the sheet, a wedding ring gleaming in the moonlight.

Darcy stopped dead in her tracks. It took everything she had not to fall over. Some police officer that had been standing nearby was there, holding her arm. Maybe she had started to fall over after all.

Loki. She needed Loki. He would be able to comfort her like nothing else could. She really just needed him to hold her and tell her it would be all right and stop her from shaking. _That's so anti-feministic and I don't even care._

"Phone," Darcy muttered to the police officer. "I need a phone."


	4. Chapter 4

Darcy sat cross-legged in the main lobby, leaning up against the wall between two sets of doors. Some medical people had carried Gabe away on a stretcher, but his blood was still all over the floor where the body had been.

A shot to the back of the head, that's what she'd overheard. Probably hadn't even seen it coming. He had a wife, Darcy knew that for sure. She also thought she'd heard him mention something about kids once, but she couldn't remember for sure.

She tried to assess what she was feeling right now. It wasn't fear or sadness or pain; the only thing she could think of to describe herself right now was _numb_.

_Numb, _she thought. _That's a good word for it._

She could see her fingers squeezing tighter around the necklace and she could almost feel it, but it was almost as if the signal wasn't anchoring in her mind. Nothing going on around her really reached her.

Darcy felt her breathing and her heart rate picking up. Closing her eyes, she attempted to calm herself. _Breathe slowly. I'm ok. I'm fine. _She noted to herself to improve her lying skills, even in just her thoughts.

A small crowd of people was gathering outside, all attempting to see what was going on inside. There were at least five cop cars out on the street and there was now a news crew setting up, but nobody out there knew what was going on other than that a body had been taken away.

Darcy heard one of the officers tell someone trying to get in that only 'a blood relative of the witness' would be let in. The crowd thickened even more as the news crew began their live report; Darcy caught a few words here and there over the crowd's talking and the occasional police siren. 'At least one casualty.' 'Possible break-in.' Stuff like that.

Squeezing the necklace tightly, Darcy thought over the evening and everything that brought her here. What if she hadn't stopped in her exhibit? She would've been in the lobby about the same time Gabe got shot. What if she hadn't gone to the museum at all? The police wouldn't have been here for hours and those men probably would've gotten away with everything. This brought up a more important point: who were those men? That was a question Darcy didn't have the mental capacity or emotional stability to think over right now.

At long last, she saw Loki making his way through the crowd. A policeman started to stop him but Darcy motioned to one of the officers near her and told him that her husband was here. She figured since she heard them say 'only blood relatives,' why go through the trouble of convincing them to let her _boyfriend_ in when they would let her _husband_ in, no questions asked?

Loki approached and got on his knees in front of her.

"I figured you might want this, even if just to have with you," He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out her taser that she'd forgotten to bring.

"Thanks," Darcy forced out a small laugh and took her trusty taser.

Loki sat down cross-legged as well, which kind of looked funny on him. A very tall dude who usually dressed really nice and always looked proper was sitting on the ground cross-legged. If Darcy didn't feel like shit right now, she'd probably make fun of him some.

Loki noticed her shaking hands and took everything from her, the taser, her dead phone, and the necklace, and set them aside. He then lightly took both of her hands and just held them there.

"Would telling me what happened make you feel better?" he asked quietly.

Darcy took a moment to answer.

"I was in the exhibit," she said, her strength already returning to her. Explaining what had happened in a calm manner was actually helping. "I heard some people break in to the museum. I grabbed that necklace from a display and hid in a table. There was a silent alarm button, and I pressed it. And then the police showed up and the robbers left."

Loki looked like he was contemplating something, like a really hard equation. More than that, he looked worried. His eyes were almost teary when they looked up into hers.

"I'm sorry," He said it like the stereotypical 'I'm sorry you're in this situation' that she'd gotten quite a few times tonight from various officers, but she could see that he meant it like 'I'm sorry I wasn't here.' There was pain and regret dripping from his words.

"No, don't be sorry. Don't be sorry. Please," Darcy's heart broke, looking into those damn puppy eyes.

"I should've come with you. I was irresponsible. I should have been here. I should have protected you."

"No. You stop that. You are not responsible for me. We are not misogynistic here. I protected myself, what little protecting that needed done. Both of us wouldn't have fit in that cabinet. You would've died if you were here and that's much worse than me just being a little freaked out,"

"It's the principle of it. If anything had happened to you…" The corner of Loki's mouth twitched. His eyes were shining in the low lighting as a single tear fell down his cheek.

Darcy's strength shattered as tears now escaped her eyes as well. Loki pulled her into his lap and just held her for an undeterminable length of time.

Darcy hated crying. She hated it more than being sick, more than the dentist, more than Crocs, and almost as much as Schmidt. It had always reminded her of being weak, no matter what she was crying over. And she hadn't cried like this since Loki had told her he was leaving her so Schmidt could kill him.

Darcy wasn't even sure what she was crying over right now. It had started because of Loki, but now the floodgates were open and it was probably some combination of fear, helplessness, sadness over Gabe, and anger that was causing her to openly weep. The dominant emotion was definitely anger; the frustration, the bitterness, the fury over the situation was coursing through her veins, blocking her judgment with rage and her vision with tears.

Loki was saying something to her. Whispers in her ear. His arms wrapped tightly around her, keeping her from shaking as she sobbed. One of her hands was at the base of his neck, her fist tight around his shirt collar. She'd probably rip his shirt clean off him if she got any more upset.

She tuned in to what he was saying in the middle of a sentence, "—promise to never let something like this happen to you again. I have no way of stopping every bad thing from happening, but I can try. I will always try to stop them, even if you hate me, even if we're old, even if it kills me. I promise."

And then he was just kissing the top of her head. Darcy was no longer crying, but her breathing was ragged and kept getting caught in her throat. She was calming down now, and that was the important thing.

Looking over at the small pile of objects beside them, Darcy reached over and grabbed the necklace. She held it in front of her, both looking at it again and showing it off to Loki. It was the kind of necklace that rested on your collar and chest area and Darcy could just picture someone like Nefertiti or Cleopatra wearing it. A large green jewel was the centerpiece, surrounded by smaller blue and gold beads and gems.

"Are you a thief now as well, dear?" Loki asked, mischief dancing in his words.

"The cops know I have it and they haven't asked for it back, so I'm taking that as a 'you can hold on to it for now' type situation."

"I bet this would look great with your dress for Jane's wedding,"

Darcy actually smiled. "Maybe."

A few minutes later, a police officer came over and asked if they needed a ride anywhere. He was probably expecting their home or the hospital or something along those lines, so he looked more than a little surprised when Darcy informed him they wanted to go to Stark Tower.

* * *

"You mean to say that some assclowns broke into the museum, got around all of the security measures, killed a security guard, and _didn't notice you hiding under a table_?" Stark was more than a little enthralled by the conversation.

Darcy was currently lounging on the loveseat in Stark's penthouse, her feet up on Loki's leg. Steve had been over visiting Stark and Pepper, so now the five of them were talking over the night's events. As of now, Stark was the only one still interested in the conversation. Apparently Steve had known Gabe somehow, and now Steve was being quiet and looking like a lost puppy. Darcy, Loki, and Pepper had all gotten over the novelty of the break in, or at least weren't quite as pissed by it as Stark.

"It was a pretty good hiding spot, I suppose," Darcy said.

"No, I'll tell you what it was: these guys were just the muscle. The brain planned everything out for them, and the muscle just did what they were told. Someone intelligent enough to break in to all of these museums would have noticed someone else in the room."

"There's no way you can know that for sure," Steve suddenly interjected, raising a hand. Stark looked surprised that he even spoke. "In the heat of a mission, all that adrenaline going, they could have missed her if she was hiding fairly well and being quiet enough,"

"That's not the point," Darcy said, "The question we should be asking is: why are they only stealing the stuff from our find? The Met and all of the other museums are full of priceless artifacts, art, all that stuff. Why only the things from Egypt, from our find?"

"We've had this conversation before; there's no way for us to tell." Stark took a sip from his drink. He was calmer now, much more himself. "And now all we know is that these guys will get everything except that damn necklace."

"Is there no one investigating this? No global security or international collaboration?" Darcy asked.

"Well, there is, but no one's really doing anything," Steve said bitterly.

"That's politics," Pepper said.

"That's life." Loki added.

"This is bullshit," Stark muttered.

"This is Sparta," Darcy snickered to herself. Loki tried to hide a small smile, Pepper and Steve both looked confused, and Stark rolled his eyes exasperatedly, clearly not in a joking mood.

"Well, if this is just bullshit, I suppose we could try to not worry about something we have no control over," Pepper said, standing up. "And as for now, I'm going to get a drink from the kitchen. Darcy, come with me?"

"Sure thing, Pepito," Darcy jumped up and joined Pepper. Once they were safely in the kitchen, Pepper turned to her.

"Is anything bothering you?" Pepper asked, looking extremely concerned. "Anything you wouldn't want to say in front of Tony and Steve?"

Darcy was unsure of what exactly Pepper meant. Chucklehead and the Boy Scout both already knew that Darcy had been pretty freaked out earlier, so that was nothing new. Darcy was generally an open book, so hiding something from the guys wasn't really something she had thought much about. "Uh, well, I'm not trying to hide a pregnancy, if that's what you mean,"

"No, I mean are you all right? I know what you went through is fairly traumatic,"

"Oh, yeah. No. I'm fine." Darcy wasn't exactly sure if that was a lie or not. "I was upset earlier, but I'm good now. Hugged it out with Loki. Looks like he's good for something else besides all of that kinky—"

"All right," Pepper quickly cut Darcy short. "I'm glad to hear you're ok."

"Yep," Darcy popped the 'p' loudly, waiting a short moment before continuing, "So, the wedding of the year in just two weeks now," Her valiant effort to move the conversation along was disappointing at best, but Pepper didn't seem to mind.

"Yeah, it's going to be great. I talked to Natasha about an hour before you came over. She's down for the get-together,"

"Bachelorette party," Darcy corrected.

Pepper gave her a look but failed to hide a smile. "Also, a woman named Sif will be joining us. She's an old friend of Thor's and Jane wanted to invite her. From the sound of it, she's Thor's ex,"

"Oh? Well that'll be fun. Jane hanging out with one of Thor's exes. It's going to be great."

"Thor's other friends are the ones I'm worried about. Jane only mentioned them in passing, but she said that she expected they would get along well with Tony, and that can't be good."

"Good? No. Hilarious and awesome? Most likely. All of these guys together will probably end up like some Hangover-esque situation except with more British people involved."

"I feel like Tony, Thor, these friends of his, and maybe Clint are going to clash against Loki, Steve, and Bruce in what they consider a 'fun evening.'" Pepper said dryly.

"I don't know about Loki; he can loosen up when he wants to. And both Steve and Bruce could definitely use a night like whatever Stark's planning."

"I don't know about that," Pepper said as she poured herself and Darcy a drink, "Those two are usually more of the shut-in types. Not exactly party guys,"

"That's exactly why they need to get out. Besides that, could you imagine either of them dancing? That'd be something I'd pay to see. Not in a stripper kind of way, though."

"_That _is a lovely image, and I think we should get back now," Pepper picked up her almost empty glass and headed out of the room.

Darcy lingered behind though, sipping her drink absently.

She felt like she was underreacting to the whole evening. Two hours earlier, she had been crying into Loki's arms over it. Now, she was talking about paying to see Steve and Bruce dance. Was she underreacting? Maybe. Were her thoughts now a dramatic turn since earlier today? Definitely. Darcy felt a pang of guilt over not feeling bad for Gabe and his wife. She was sad about that, but not upset. Not anymore. She had cried and gotten her feelings out, and what she felt now was most relatable to closure. _Something happened to me. I used to be a hell of a lot worse at dealing with feelings._

A loud knock on the doorframe interrupted her thoughts.

"Did I disturb you?" Loki was leaning against the frame with that dumb smile on his mouth, but it instantly slid off when he saw her expression. He strode over to her and embraced her. "What is it?" he asked lowly, running a hand through her hair.

"I…" Darcy trailed off. She had no idea how to finish that. As she stared off blankly at the wall over Loki's shoulder, a thought occurred to her: nothing was troubling her, and that was the problem. It was like the numbness she felt earlier, except she couldn't even feel that. She felt no fear over the men who could have easily killed her. She felt no sorrow for a man that had died or his family. It was as if those occurrences had happened a year ago and to someone else; they didn't matter to her, and that disturbed her.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing is wrong with you," Loki said, searching her eyes desperately. "Why would you say that?"

"I'm not sad or afraid. What happened today was awful, and I don't feel bad about it," Her expression was blank, her eyes dead. She felt a single tear escape and fall down her cheek.

"And that's ok," Loki said, lightly wiping away her tear with his thumb. "People react differently to different things. It's perfectly normal. If you don't feel those things, that's fine. Today has been a rollercoaster, and you need sleep."

"I'm so tired," Darcy admitted quietly, smiling a little at Loki's words.

"Let's go home."

* * *

**Important AN:**

**Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the amount of time it took me to put this up. Finals hit me with all the force of a great typhoon, but they're over and I'll be back up to my normal speed now that I have nothing to do. I'd also like to apologize for the quality of this chapter, or lack thereof. This one was a bitch but the next chapter should pick up a little. I'm just excited for later on when it gets back into some of the action/history themes that were characteristic of the first story. Yeah.**

**Secondly: nobody's ever asked me/said anything about this, but I thought I'd take a minute to explain something. The reason I portrayed Loki as not being an asshole is because I felt that his personality in the movie Thor combined with real life situations and how someone here on Earth would react to finding out they were adopted would lead to a much softer personality than what he is in Avengers. If that makes any sense. Also: he is adopted in this story, and that will be addressed farther down the line. In conclusion: someone who was adopted and had an intelligence-based skill set and had _not_ been raised in a society that hates that person's species and values warrior-like abilities wouldn't become a psychopath. At least that's my theory when it comes to my version of Loki.**

**Lastly, I'd like to announce that I've started working on a new story. It's movie-verse Loki and Darcy and stuff and it should be up soonish if any of you are interested.**

**Thanks for your patience, and see you soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

Stepping off the plane, back in England for the first time in months, was almost surreal. Darcy hadn't seen Cambridge since she'd come to pick up all her stuff for the move to New York, and she missed that old college town to say the least.

With the wedding only a few days away now, the bachelorette and bachelor parties were that night. That Darcy was excited for. On the other hand, the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were the following night, which meant Darcy would have to meet Loki's parents.

Loki had assured her that they were nice enough, wouldn't be rude, and would be much more concerned with Jane and Thor, since it was their wedding. Still, Darcy got a chill down her spine just thinking about it. What if they didn't like her? What if they thought she wasn't good enough for their son? With her luck, she'd say something that would ruin their impressions of her right off the bat.

Since their flight got in a little early, Darcy and Loki went to see the others before they were able to drop their luggage off at their hotel. Jane had offered for the two of them to stay with them, but considering the madness that was going with all of the wedding business, Loki and Darcy figured they'd not be in the way as much as possible. According to Jane, her and Thor's new apartment in Cambridge was almost as luxurious as Stark's penthouse. _That_ Darcy was excited to see.

When Loki and Darcy knocked on the door, they heard a small squeal, rustling, and Pepper yelling "Don't rip it!" Jane opened the door a moment later, a huge grin on her face and a big, puffy, white wedding dress on, pinned in a few places.

"Darcy!" she said, throwing her arms around her. "How was your flight? Oh, I haven't seen you in so long. Loki, hi! How are you? Come in," Jane moved to the side to let them pass. They both had to do a bit of squeezing to get themselves and their luggage past Jane's giant fluffy dress.

"Hey Pepper," Darcy called out, knowing she was somewhere. She turned her attention back to Jane, but Loki beat her to speaking first.

"You look beautiful, Jane," he said, smiling.

Darcy heard someone coming around the corner and, assuming it was just Pepper and not caring if she heard her talk graphically, said, "Thor's going to have a great time ripping that off. Tell me, have you bought your sexy lingerie for the big night? We should totally go shopping for it if you haven't. I'll help you pick out something so scandalous Thor won't know what hit him."

Several things happened at once. Jane glanced behind Darcy, gasped, and then tried to hide a snort of laughter. Loki turned and saw what Jane had seen and immediately turned bright red.

Darcy stared straight in front of her, knowing that someone definitely not Pepper was standing behind her. She turned slowly, preparing for the worst.

An older woman— older, but very beautiful— stood beside Pepper, who was currently covering her mouth and trying to hold in laughter. The woman looked a hell of a lot like Thor and Darcy was just hoping that this was an aunt or older cousin who happened to look like him. Anything, really, besides Thor and Loki's mother.

Her expression was unreadable, but she had moved to cross her arms, hopefully not in an angry way.

"Hi," Darcy said, smiling nervously. "I'm Darcy."

"I figured," the woman said, finally smiling. "I heard you had quite the mouth on you. I'm glad I wasn't disappointed,"

"Well, I'm glad I didn't disappoint," Darcy said unsurely, glancing from the woman to Loki. She attempted to laugh to make that seem like a joke, but it came out sounding forced.

"Hello Mother," Loki said, saving Darcy from the quickly worsening situation. He put down his bag and went over to her, giving her a quick hug. "How was your ride in?" he asked once they parted.

"Oh, your father always gets lost in the same part and he never wants to stop for directions. He's almost as bad as your brother, I swear. You boys and your manliness,"

"A trait I suppose skipped me," Loki said, "Darcy's the one who refused to let me stop the time we attempted to find Niagara Falls without assistance."

"Are you calling me manly?" Darcy said, severing her hug from Pepper.

"I said nothing like that," Loki replied with the slightest smug smile.

"I suppose that means I wear the pants in the relationship. I personally prefer when neither of us wear the pants— I didn't mean for that to sound that dirty— but I'm willing to take one for the team."

"Would you like me to be awful and domineering all the time?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Well, not _all_ the time," she said, nestling slightly into his side. Darcy pretended not to notice the smile growing on Loki's mother as she watched the two of them joking with each other.

"If I hadn't heard what you were actually talking about, I'd say that you two were just being painfully couple-y to the point of almost being cliché," Jane said, walking back toward Pepper to finish up what they had been doing.

"Says the girl who's about to have a big, extravagant springtime wedding," Darcy said, following the two women down the hall to the bedroom the fitting had been taking place in. Just before entering the room, Darcy heard Loki's mother speak to him, "I can see why you like her."

* * *

"Please, please, _please_; tell us. Yes or no: do you and Clint have a thing?" Darcy exclaimed.

The five women— Darcy, Jane, Pepper, Natasha, and Thor's friend Sif who was totally cool but kind of quiet around the other women— were sitting around the table in the fancy restaurant Jane had chosen for the first part of her bachelorette party. The women were so absorbed in conversation that they sat around talking an hour after dinner. They were supposed to go off to a club once they finished, but that could definitely wait until after they talked for a while. The third bottle of champagne between the five of them was nearly depleted and the current conversation topic was Nat and her potential romantic involvements with Clint.

"That is…" Nat answered, pausing thoughtfully before continuing, "classified information. I will neither confirm nor deny."

"That's totally a yes. You and Clint are doing the nasty. How long until your big white wedding? Don't wait until you're preggo— I had this neighbor when I was in high school and her water broke during the reception. On the plus side, her wedding anniversary and her son's birthday are the same day, which means her husband is that much less likely to forget the day!"

"That was _not_ a yes and there will not be a big white wedding. Neither of us are exactly the type for weddings or for children." Nat remarked, afterwards taking a long sip of her drink.

"Oh, come on," Darcy finished off her third glass of champagne, successfully becoming thoroughly tipsy. She was going to add something to her comment, but she felt her phone vibrate in her lap. A text from Loki popped up on the screen and Darcy nearly laughed out loud. Luckily, only a small snort actually escaped.

"What?" Jane said, looking half curious and half concerned for her friend's blood alcohol levels.

"Loki just sent me 'Do I have to go with them? They want to go to a strip club.'" Another message was received on the phone, this one even better than the last. "This one says 'One of Thor's friends just suggested we start our own version of Fight Club. Please tell me you got sick and need help of some kind.'"

"Tell him to suck it up," Pepper said. She had just finished her fourth glass and was giggling a little more than the others. "Oh, and warn him that Tony fights dirty."

"And make sure you tell him that if anyone in the wedding party has visible bruises Saturday, Thor will be sleeping on the couch the entire honeymoon," Jane said.

"Clint and Tony might just beat the shit out of Loki and Thor and— what was the other guy's name?" Darcy turned to Sif and asked.

"Fandral," she replied.

"Yeah, those guys might just rough up the whole male section of the wedding party just to put Thor through a terrible honeymoon," Darcy said. "I bet you they're that cruel."

"I'll have to think up a punishment for them if they do that," Jane said. "Preferably at a time where I am slightly more sober."

"Nah, drunk logic is the best. But you should do it more of like a reward for not pissing you off. Like, tell them you'll flash them if the three boys don't have major facial or bodily harm for the wedding pictures. Can I go ahead and tell Loki that?"

"No!" Jane and Pepper both exasperated at the same time.

"You ladies and your modesty, I swear. Whenever I want Loki to do something that I'm too lazy to do, all I have to do is say I'll show him my boobs and bam! He's suddenly willing to do whatever I asked."

Pepper and Jane looked slightly scandalized, Nat looked amused, and Sif looked like she had just heard a little too much information about one of the guys she had apparently grown up with. Darcy couldn't help snickering at their expressions.

"Loki is such a gentleman when I see him, but by some of the things you say about him, he sounds like such a horndog," Pepper said.

"What can I say? He knows how to behave in public. You know, he probably would've had more fun here tonight. Steve and Bruce, too. But this'll be good for them; help all the guys become closer."

"Speaking of that, kind of, we should probably get going," Jane said.

"Oh, suddenly you're eager to get off to the club," Darcy grinned.

"We're going dancing, not going to see men dancing. It'll be fun, in a slightly more moral way."

"What's the point of a bachelorette party if you still have morals?" Darcy mumbled as she pulled herself up.

* * *

Thinking back on it, having those shots with Nat while already more than a little tipsy from champagne at the restaurant was probably not a great decision. Pepper, Sif, and Jane hadn't had nearly as much wine, so at least there would be people present that weren't completely shitfaced. Well, Darcy was the only one at that point.

The dancing portion of the evening had been short-lived for Darcy; instead, she found herself in more of a drinking mood. However, Nat could probably drink Thor under the table, so Darcy's belief that she could keep up with her was definitely not her best move.

Walking up to Sif, who was currently standing at the bar of the club ordering herself a drink, Darcy slung an arm over her shoulder and grinned at her dumbly.

"Hey, Schvif,"

"Hi Darcy. Are you feeling all right?" she asked, eyeing her weirdly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm totally fine. Are _you_ feeling all right? I feel like dancing. No, I think I might throw up. Why did you ask if I'm all right? Is there something wrong?"

"Nah, I was just making sure you were good, being a little drunk and all. If you're feeling all right, then that's perfectly good. However," Sif turned around and gave the club a onceover, "I think it's about time for us to be leaving."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm about ready for another drink," Darcy reached for the cocktail the bartender was handing Sif, but she quickly pulled it out of Darcy's reach.

"Oh, no. You've had enough. I don't think you, Jane, or Pepper quite know how to handle your alcohol to the extent you think you do,"

"What? No," Darcy rolled her eyes and scoffed, unintentionally stumbling a bit to the side as she did. Well, she was wearing heels. It wasn't like she almost fell over on _nothing_.

"Yeah," Sif said, grabbing Nat by the arm as she walked by. "I think it's about time to get these ladies home," she said to her, motioning with her head at Darcy.

"Come on," Nat hooked arms with Darcy and walked her toward the exit. "Hey, I forgot to ask you before we came in. Not that it makes any difference now, but are you even old enough to drink?"

"I'm twenty four," It came out sounding more like a question.

"Are you asking me?" Nat raised an eyebrow at her as she opened the door for them.

"No?"

"All right, Crazy. Let's get you some fresh air while we wait for the others,"

As Darcy stepped out of the club, she walked straight into a large figure and nearly fell over. She would've hit the ground if the person she walked into hadn't caught her as she fell.

"Darcy?"

"Loki? What are you doing out here?" Darcy righted herself and took in her surroundings; directly in front of her was Loki, looking utterly confused. Steve, Bruce, and another man were also staring at her, more concerned than anything. Farther down the sidewalk, Thor, Stark, Clint, and two others were just now noticing the other half of the group had stopped.

"We were heading to some club Tony heard of. Leave it to Stark to find a place like that in Cambridge," Loki said.

"I don't mean to be rude," Darcy moved in really close to Loki so that she could whisper and only he would hear, "but is that Jackie Chan?"

Loki glanced at one of the men with him, "No, I'm pretty sure that's not him. Last I checked, that was Thor's friend Hogun, but I could be wrong."

"I don't appreciate your sass," Darcy said. She felt herself going wobbly again so she put a hand on Loki's chest to steady herself.

Stark and all of the others rejoined the group gathering in front of the entrance to the club. "Oh, you guys found it. I guess I was off by a few blocks. Hey, chucklehead; look alive," He directed the last part at Darcy, who had started to drift off right where she was standing. Loki had caught that and had turned to stand beside her and wrap his arm around her waist. "How many drinks did you have tonight, anyway?" Stark asked.

"She and I started doing shots and she thought she could out-drink me," Nat said, crossing her arms. "She's going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow."

"Hey, Thor," Darcy said, her voice slurred heavily. "You need to be careful. Jane's around her, and you're not allowed to see her before the wedding,"

"That's only for the day of, I believe," Thor replied unsurely.

"You," Darcy pointed at one of the men she didn't know, a man with a particularly impressive mustache and goatee. "I dig your style, mustache-man."

"It's Fandral, but thanks," he said, seeming confused.

"Fandral! I know you. You're Pepper's other half for the wedding. You're in Thor's bridal party,"

"Something like that."

"Brother," Loki addressed Thor and spoke lowly, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to duck out early and take Darcy to the hotel. She is no condition to be alone,"

"I completely understand. I should probably see if Jane's anything like this and take her home if she is as well,"

"You know, I thought us guys were going to have a crazier evening, but look at this; it's only one thirty and Darcy's already past the point of no judgment," Stark said, putting one hand on each Odinson's shoulder. "I think the next time clubbing and drinking is on the agenda, it should be a co-ed occasion,"

"Totally. I would pay an arm and a hand to see Thor and Nat in a drinking contest," Darcy said.

"Come on, Darcy," Loki gently guided her and started walking down the sidewalk.

Darcy turned as she walked and looked back at Fandral. She put two fingers in front of her eyes, turned her wrists so that the fingers were pointing at him, and went back to her original position in the classic 'I'm watching you' motion.

"I'm see you, mustache-man. I'm looking you."

"You're looking him?" Loki asked.

"Looking _at_ him. You knew what I was saying."

"Of course, darling. Oh, here; watch step."

"Shut up. I hate you, like so much. Oh hey! You should totally get really drunk too. I think that'd be like really fun,"

"You know, this is one of the first times I haven't been able to tell if you're being sarcastic, and it is mostly because you're so intoxicated."

"_Please_. I'm only like halfway drunk. You should get to like where I'm at and then we can talk."

"I think, instead of that plan, that we will walk into the hotel room, you'll probably pass out, I'll lay you on your side and take off your shoes, and then I'll set out pain killers, water, and probably a bowl for you to throw up in tomorrow."

"What a gentleman. You're like a real knight in shining armor. Do you ever realize how good you are? Like a regular Prince Charming,"

"Again with the sarcasm, dear?"

"I find myself thinking that like almost every day."

"Darling, do you realize how much you say 'like' when you're drunk?"

"I hate you."

Loki smiled. "I love you too."

* * *

**So very sorry for the delay. This chapter was a little longer, so hopefully that made up for it. The next chapter for this story will be the wedding, so I suppose you'll have that to look forward to. As for now: Happy Holidays, my wonderful amazing readers, reviewers, followers, and favoriters. I love you guys from the bottom of my heart. Keep up the excellence, you fantastic people. See you next time.  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**After receiving a series of extremely helpful reviews from Skytteflickan, I've gone back through the first few chapters of Like the Pharaohs of Old and fixed a few grammatical things, as well as added a few sentences here and there to patch up minor plot holes. It's nothing that will change the story, but I just thought I'd say I did it. (Everything after the first five chapters or so has been un-beta'd, non-proofread, etc. Just me reading through it once to make sure I didn't do anything stupid.)**

**I'd like to thank Skytteflickan for the great reviews that were extremely constructive, and also everyone else who has reviewed, letting me know that they enjoy what I do here. I love you and you warm my heart.**

* * *

**So, I had planned for this chapter to be sweet and full of fluff, but it kind of took a direction of its own.**

**Oops.**

* * *

"Darcy, I don't know if I can do this."

"Oh, shut up. You look beautiful."

"You keep saying that. It's nice, but it's not doing much for me."

"Fine. You're bammin' slammin' booty-liscious. Better?"

"Not at all."

Jane and Darcy were waiting alone in a back room in the chapel. Jane kept messing with her dress or her hair or her veil, until Darcy finally just smacked her hand away and attempted to give her a pep-talk that mostly resulted in Jane being slightly insulted but a lot better off confidence-wise. Every few minutes, though, she'd become nervous again and begin her spiral of self-doubt and fear until Darcy could talk sense into her. Darcy just wished Pepper was here instead of off checking on things and making sure everything was going according to plan; Pepper was so much better at this sort of thing.

"Darcy," Jane began, her eyes fearful.

Darcy put her hand on Jane's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Jane. You and Thor are so in love it's literally sickening. You're going to go through with this and it'll be the best day of your life. Unless you'd prefer we cancel the whole thing and—"

"No," Jane said, realizing what Darcy had been getting at: Jane's love of Thor outweighed her fear.

Pepper returned a few minutes later and said that they had fifteen more minutes until they'd have to get into their positions. Darcy snuck off as Pepper and Jane started crying, hoping to get a peek at the boys before this shindig went down.

"Hey, I really hope nobody's naked, but I don't care that much about it to knock before coming in," Darcy said loudly as she opened the door to the room the men were in. The three of them, Thor, Loki, and Fandral—moustache-man, as Darcy preferred— were each holding a glass of some mystery liquid. Stark was present as well, so it was probably alcohol they were drinking.

"What's this? I get hysterics and tears and you guys get alcohol? That's it. I want a penis."

"Jane is distressed?" Thor asked, stepping toward her.

"Calm down. It's just the pre-wedding jitters. She'll be fine." Darcy walked over to the group of men and grabbed the glass from Stark's hand.

"No, please. Help yourself," Stark said bitterly as Darcy drained his glass.

"Wow," Darcy said, taking a moment to get used to the drink. It burned her throat in a half-lemon juice half-alcohol kind of way and made her half-hiccup/half-burp as she took it in. "That's pretty strong for a wedding day toast. And before eleven in the morning? For shame. Et tú, Loki?"

"What can I say? It's a good drink," Loki said, accenting this by taking a sip.

Darcy could feel the drink settling in her. "God, what's in this? Pure alcohol and battery acid?"

Stark finished off the glass he had just re-poured himself and burped. "It's called an 'Adios Motherfucker.' It's like vodka, gin, rum, Curacao liqueur, tequila, and Sprite."

"Jesus. Sounds about your speed. But really, on Thor's wedding day?" Darcy asked.

"It was for the nerves and meant to be taken over a little bit longer time frame than one shot," Stark explained.

"What have you got to be nervous about? You're sitting on your ass in the second row. We're the ones up in front of everybody," Darcy put her hand on her hip to accent her sass. She was definitely feeling the alcohol now.

"Notice how I'm not the only one drinking it," he replied, motioning at the surrounding wedding party members.

"Just an excuse to drink. You should be more careful," She smiled smugly and put the empty glass on the table beside them.

"Yes, I could wind up getting shitfaced at a bachelorette party and making a fool of myself. Aw, too soon?"

"I'm more concerned as to why you'd be at a bachelorette party, Stark," Loki remarked. "Tell us, do you secretly want to be truer to your inner femininity?"

"Or would you be the entertainment?" Darcy added.

"You two are funny. I had no idea this was comedy hour,"

"I'm taking that as your surrender," Darcy said, smiling.

"Never."

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door and Pepper summoning Darcy. Before leaving, Darcy quickly kissed Loki, much to the comically exaggerated retching and gagging from Stark.

* * *

_Breathe. Just breathe, Darce. Fuck, this isn't even my wedding. Why am _I_ nervous? I guess I know how Jane was feeling. Oh god, am I sweating liqueur? The ceiling looks funny. I think this is what an acid trip feels like. God, Loki looks so fuckable right now. No! Focus. Shit, the music's starting. Wait— was I supposed to wait sixteen beats or thirty-two? Shit! I didn't start counting when it started! Oh my god, I've ruined the whole wedding!_

Apparently Darcy was in luck; Pepper had been paying attention and when the time came she gave Darcy a light push out into the sanctuary. Darcy started out her walk down the aisle attempting to regain her footing, but once she grew accustomed to her feet again she gave a polite smile to the people who had noticed and stepped in time with the music. She looked up the aisle to the men— Thor looked sick with nerves, Loki looked concerned for Darcy, and moustache-man looked absent-minded and Darcy was ninety-two percent sure he was staring at her breasts. Oh well.

Pepper followed Darcy with much more grace. _Well, at least I haven't thrown up yet. I guess that's what the reception is for._

When Jane walked in, she took the breath from every person in the room. Darcy glanced over at Thor; every ounce of fear he had seemed to have before was gone. The look in his eyes said it all; he was looking at his wife and he loved her more than life itself. A man-tear even fell down his cheek as Darcy watched him watch Jane.

Darcy tightened her hold on her flowers as she tried to keep herself from crying as well. She looked over and made eye contact with Loki; to her surprise, his eyes had been on her instead of Jane. She winked at him, to which he responded with a wink of his own. She one-upped that by winking and sticking her tongue out in a more than suggestive manor, but then she remembered she was in a church and in front of a crowd of people and she stood stock still, eyes on Jane, not daring to look at anyone else's face.

The priest began his spiel once Jane reached the alter. Darcy did her best not to laugh or make any noise the whole time even though she was incredibly tipsy. At one point she was pretty sure she was about to fall over, but she was able to steady herself in time.

After the ceremony, Loki walked out of the sanctuary with Darcy. She only almost fell over two or three times, tripping over her own feet. Once they were out in the other room, free from the view of all of the other people, he turned and scooped her up into his arms and carried her down the side hallway toward the rooms they had gotten dressed in.

"I do believe you are a bit tipsy, darling," Loki said as he walked down the hall.

"I do believe you are correct," she said with a smile, perfectly aware that her words were slurred. "I think we're just going to blame Stark for this and call it a day."

"Sounds perfect."

Jane and Thor were immediately driven in some fancy car to the place the reception was at, Jane to get dressed there. The rest of the wedding party was to make their way over immediately as well, even though they were all supposed to make their grand entrance _after _everyone else had arrived.

_Whatever. More time to get this fucking Adios Motherfucker out of my system._

* * *

"You know, I used to barely even drink at all. I think it's Stark. It's his fault, I know it. Two times in the past three days I've gotten like this? Fucking Stark, man."

"Not that I'm defending him, but he wasn't even present for one of these instances," Loki said, straightening his tie in the mirror. Darcy finished redoing her lipstick and began attempting to fix her hair. They had gotten into this predicament when Darcy had suggested that the best way for her to sober up would be to get her metabolism up and just work off the alcohol, which had led to their little adventure against the door of the powder room out behind the ballroom where the reception was being held.

Their grand entrances had been made and the festivities begun, but Darcy still hadn't shaken that damn drink. Five shots of strong alcohol mixed into one drink can do that to a person, especially on an empty stomach. After mentioning the metabolism thing to Loki and dirty talking him a bit, the two of them had snuck out and found the powder room, successfully getting her heart rate up at the very least.

"Should we walk in separately?" Loki asked, turning to Darcy as they were about to reenter the reception.

"Why? I'm not ashamed."

"Neither am I, but in the interest of decorum—"

"We already snuck out together. There's not much else we could do along those lines. I mean, I could have you fuck me on a table in there,"

"If you'd had one more of those drinks, I bet you would've insisted on it."

"Oh, if we do that later, can it be on the table Steve's at? His face would get so red it'd match Nat's hair,"

"Tempting, but if you remember, my mother is here,"

"Pussy. Whatever. Come on, let's go take our walk of shame with pride."

After an evening of dancing, cheesy wedding activities, and finally meeting Loki's dad— an old, somewhat Santa-esque fellow who hadn't corrected Darcy to a first name when she referred to him as Mr. Odinson— Loki and Darcy finally went home and finished off what they had started in the powder room. Darcy had found herself another sip of that Adios Motherfucker stuff and though both she and Loki were drunk off their asses, she knew she would have the hangover of her life the next morning. Judging by how Loki was currently acting, her thighs would probably match in pain as well. _Completely worth it._


End file.
